IACHR Files Application Before Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case Concerning Unlawful Detention and Torture Against Human Rights Defender in Venezuela

December 29, 2023

Washington, D.C. – The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) filed on November 17, 2023, an application before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Case 14,238, with regard to Venezuela. This case concerns the unlawful and arbitrary detention of human rights defender Víctor Alfonso Navarro López and the violence he suffered at the hands of officers of the State.

In January 2018, Víctor Navarro López—who was 22 at the time and worked at the Embajadores Comunitarios foundation and the Corazón Valiente project—was subjected to criminal proceedings for allegedly engaging in disorderly conduct. The authorities filed a report that falsely linked the Embajadores Comunitarios foundation to violent activities and recommended that its members be watched and neutralized. In this context, officers of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) stormed his home without a warrant and unlawfully arrested him in January 2018. Navarro López was taken to the detention facility known as El Helicoide, where he was beaten up and threatened and where he suffered inhuman conditions of detention including overcrowded premises and a lack of access to ventilation, light, water, and adequate medical care.

On January 26, 2018, Navarro López was taken before court with nine other suspects. At that hearing, the judge issued precautionary measures for his release and requested the relevant release warrant. However, he was not released until June 2, 2018. The hearing in criminal proceedings against Navarro López was postponed 10 times. For fear of being again subjected to an unlawful and arbitrary arrest, he migrated in May 2019, first to Colombia and later to Argentina, where he was granted refugee status.

In its Admissibility and Merits Report, the Commission said that the raid and arrest had lacked the required court warrants and legal justification and noted that judicial authorities had ruled that the raid had been legal without adequately assessing this specific case. The Commission found that the deprivation of liberty of Navarro López had been arbitrary, since he had remained in detention until June 2018 despite fulfilling all requirements for release in February 2018, without any documentation to support keeping him in detention. The IACHR found that the conditions of detention and the attacks that Navarro López had suffered at the El Helicoide facility had amounted to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

The Commission also said that lack of access to his lawyer during the preliminary hearing had affected the human rights defender's right to a defense, and noted that the actions of his public defender had proved ineffective. The IACHR found that the rights violations suffered by Navarro López—linked to his own work as a human rights defender—had included stigmatization in the media and violations of his right to honor and dignity, as well as of the presumption of innocence. The Commission also found that it had been violence, harassment, and the fear of being unlawfully arrested again that had led Navarro López to leave the country. The IACHR further noted that lack of information about his whereabouts had caused harm to the psychological and moral integrity of members of his family.

The IACHR therefore concluded that the State was liable for violations of the rights held in Articles 5.1 and 5.2 (right to humane treatment), 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4 (right to personal liberty), 8.1 and 8.2 (right to a fair trial), 11 (right to privacy), 22.1 (right to equal protection), and 25.1 (right to judicial protection) of the American Convention on Human Rights, concerning the obligations held in Article 1.1 of that instrument. The IACHR further concluded that the State was liable for violations of Articles 1, 6, and 8 of the Inter-American Convention to Prevent and Punish Torture.

The Commission therefore recommended that the State adopt the following redress measures:

1. Provide comprehensive reparations—both material and immaterial—for all human rights violations, including satisfaction and financial compensation measures
2. Provide any physical and mental healthcare necessary for the rehabilitation of Víctor Alfonso Navarro López and members of his family, should they request it, in agreement with them
3. Launch or further pursue impartial, effective, and timely legal proceedings to establish what happened and to hold all perpetrators and masterminds accountable for them
4. Implement mechanisms of non-recurrence, including the following:
   1. Issue directives at the highest level, requiring that SEBIN officers refrain from all practices that amount to torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, including acts of sexual and other gender-based violence
   2. Ensure adequate conditions of detention at the El Helicoide facility, in compliance with the applicable international standards, and provide all medical care required
   3. Improve the ability to investigate acts of violence against human rights defenders, in keeping with the applicable inter-American standards
   4. Design training programs for officers of the State's law enforcement agencies concerning the Inter-American Human Rights System and issues linked to protecting human rights defenders and to preventing violence against them

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 325/23

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